Homosexuality
in the Ancient Near East, beyond Egypt
HOMOSEXUALITY AND THE BIBLE, Supplement
By Bruce L. Gerig

Besides
looking at “Homosexuality in Ancient Egypt” (see earlier supplement
by this title in this "Jonathan and David Series"), how was this
viewed to the north, in the rest of the ancient Near East? There was continual
interaction between God’s people and the larger world in which they
lived. The Bible records how Abraham came from Ur (Gen 11:31), a city of the
Sumerians in Mesopotamia. During a famine, he migrated to Egypt (Gen 12:10);
and when he returned to Canaan, he bought a tomb from the Hitittes, “the
people of the land” (Gen 23:1-4). His sons and grandsons chose wives,
for the most part, from among the Aramaeans, bedouins (desert nomads) who
lived in the region of Syria (cf. Haran, Gen 11:31, 24:1-4, 28:1-2,10). Joseph,
his brothers and their descendents (Gen 46:26-27) lived among the Egyptians
for generations, until the Exodus. Back in the Promised Land, Samson and David
lived a good portion of their lives among the Philistines (Judg 14:1-2, 16:4-5;
1 Sam 27:1-6), a people who settled along the southern coast of Canaan and
dominated the area from ca. 1200-1000 B.C.1 From the
beginning, the Babylonians (including the Sumerians, Akkadians, and Chaldeans)
and Assyrians built great cities (Gen 10:10-11) and dominated the Mesopotamian
valley through the 3rd-2nd millennia B.C.2 Tom Horner
points out that the sexual mores of the Bible must have been influenced –
tremendously influenced – by the sexual mores of the peoples and nations
in whose midst this same Bible was produced – and among all the above-named
peoples and nations, homosexuality existed alongside heterosexuality to a
greater or lesser degree…”3 But what does
this mean exactly and more precisely?

Law codes in
the ancient Near East – including those of Urukagina (2375 B.C.), Ur-Nammu
(2100 B.C.), Eshnunna (1750 B.C.), and Hammurabi (1726 B.C.) – virtually
ignore homosexual acts.4 Vern Bullough notes that these
law codes had a great influence on later law codes, were intended to deal
with specific deeds (not general moral principles), and seem not to have been
observed in all cases or at all times.5 The Hittites,
who flourished in eastern Anatolia (Turkey) and Syria ca. 1700-700 B.C., had
one law that stated, “If a man violates his son, it is a capital
crime” (section 189c). The same judgment was declared on father-daughter
incest and mother-son incest.6 As Hittitologist Harry
Hoffner, Jr., observed, “a man who sodomized his son is guilty of urkel
[illegal intercourse] because the partner is his son, not because they are
of the same sex.” Later, he added, “[I]t would appear that homosexuality
was not outlawed among the Hittites.”7

Two laws from a Middle Assyrian code, from Assur (12th century B.C. but probably
copies or extensions of earlier laws going back to at least the 15th century
B.C.8), also mention homosexuality. They speak of a
“seignior,” someone of high social rank in the community, and
his “neighbor,” someone of equal social status who lived in the
vicinity.9 Later scholars simply view these laws as
applying to any Assyrian man.10Table A, paragraph
19 reads (translated by Theophile Meek): “If a seignior
[an Assyrian man] started a rumor against his neighbor [another
citizen living nearby] in private, saying, ‘People have lain
repeatedly with him,’ or he said to him in a brawl in the presence of
(other) people, ‘People have lain repeatedly with you; I will prosecute
you,’ since he is not able to prosecute (him) (and) did not prosecute
(him), they shall flog that seignior fifty (times) with staves (and) he shall
do the work of the king for one full month; they shall castrate him [lit.
‘shall cut off’] and he shall also pay one talent of lead.”11
Harsh punishment was often decreed in ancient times, e.g. in this law code
including death and cutting off ears, noses, lips and fingers (Cf. A,5,9,12).
The meaning of igadimus (“shall cut off”)
is ambiguous and has also been translated as “he shall be cut off”
from the community (G.R. Driver and J.C. Miles, 1935) and “they shall
cut off” his beard or hair as a form of branding (Chicago Assyrian Dictionary,
gadamu, G, 8)12 The preceding prohibition (A,18)
in this law code deals with false (or unproven) rumors spread about a man’s
wife sleeping around (like a prostitute); and its wording and punishment are
very similar to A,19, except there is no “cutting off” and less
blows are specified. In both cases, the lord’s reputation was
at stake in the face of a grave slur that had been circulated against him.13

Table A,
paragraph 20 deals with a physical act done, not just a rumor: “If
a seignior [an Assyrian man] lay with his neighbor [another
citizen],when they have prosecuted him (and) convicted
him [the first citizen], they shall lie with him (and) turn
him into a eunuch.”14 This describes
a situation where a man has forced sex upon a local resident or business partner,
who then has the option of bringing a charge against him. Noticeably, the
perpetrator is punished while the victim is not; so the crime here is rape.
Homosexuality itself is not condemned, nor looked upon as immoral or disordered.
Anyone could visit a prostitute or lay with another male, as long as false
rumors or forced sex were not involved with another Assyrian male. Still,
both of these laws suggest that for a male to take the submissive woman’s
role in same-sex intercourse was looked down upon as shameful and despised.15

Pictorial and
literary references in ancient Mesopotamia show acceptance of some forms of
homosexuality, but wariness toward others. Anal intercourse was freely pictured
in figurative art in the ancient cities of Uruk, Assur, Babylon, and Susa
from the 3rd millennium B.C. on – and images show that it was practiced
as part of religious ritual. Both Zimri-lin (king of Mari) and Hammurabi (king
of Babylon) had male lovers, which the queen of Zimri-lin mentions matter-of-factly
in a letter. The Almanac of Incantations contained prayers favoring
on an equal basis the love of a man for a woman, of a woman for a man, and
of a man for man.16 (Lesbian love is not mentioned,
probably because of the low status of women in ancient times, when women were
basically considered property, and adultery was considered a trespass against
the husband’s property. A husband was free to fornicate, but a wife
could be put to death for the same thing.17) The
Summa alu, a manual used to predict the future, sought to do this in some
cases on the basis of sexual acts, five of which are homosexual:

“If
a man copulates with his equal from the rear, he becomes the leader among
his peers and brothers.

If a
man yearns to express his manhood while in prison and thus, like a male cult-prostitute,
mating with men becomes his desire, he will experience evil.

If a
man copulates with an assinnu[a male cult-prostitute],
trouble will leave him (?).

If a
man copulates with a gerseqqu[a male courtier, or royal
attendant], worry will possess him for a whole year but will then
leave him.

If a
man copulates with a house-born slave, a hard destiny will befall him.”18

The fact that
different kinds of homoerotic pairing will occur is taken for granted. What
mattered was the role and the status of a partner, especially the passive
partner – and the anticipated ramifications in each case. To penetrate
a male who was of equal status or a cult prostitute was thought to bring good
fortune; but copulation with a royal attendant, a fellow prisoner, or a household
slave was thought to probably spell trouble.19

Another kind
of same-sex relationship in the ancient Near East was the love found between
heroes or warriors; and the most famous example of this is the Epic of
Gilgamesh, a long poem that combines “man and nature, love and adventure,
[and] friendship and combat” with the “stark reality of death.”20
Gilgamesh was a real king of Uruk, a Sumerian city-state, ca. 2600 B.C., whose
exploits and glory elevated him to supernatural rank shortly after his death.
Five legends about him survive in Sumerian, composed around 2000 B.C. However,
after the Akkadians took Babylon and prospered under rule of Hammurabi (ca.
1750 B.C.), an unknown author of the period (c. 1600 B.C.) assembled a composite
and far-reaching account uniting the earlier tales about Gilgamesh. This literary
text was esteemed enough to be translated into Hurrite (spoken in N/NW Mesopotamia),
it was abridged by the Hittites of Anatolia (Syria and E. Turkey), and remains
have been found in Palestine.21 The fullest text available
today is sometimes called the ‘Ninevite’ version, because it utilizes
35 manuscripts found in the great library at Nineveh of the Assyrian king
Ashurbanipal (mid-7th century B.C.), along with other fragments found elsewhere.22
The story basically goes as follows:23

Gilgamesh, king
of Uruk (called Ereck in Gen 10:10), is described as “most handsome.”
But because he is two-thirds god and one-third human, he distresses the citizens
of Uruk with his insatiable sexual appetite and boundless energy. So the gods
create a companion for him, named Enkidu, a wild, hairy man with “long
tresses like those of a woman.” After a prostitute is sent to tame and
train Eniku, who also is “handsome … just like a god,” he
is brought into Uruk, where he meets Gilgamesh. Meanwhile Gilgamesh has had
two dreams, one of a falling star and the second of a mighty axe, toward which
he feels strangely attracted. His mother explains, “A mighty comrade
will come to you … [and] like a wife you’ll love him, caress and
embrace him” (Tablet I). When Gilgamesh and Enkidu finally meet, at
first they fight furiously, but then they “kissed each other and formed
a friendship.” Gilgamesh persuades Enkidu to go with him to subdue the
monster Humbaba, who lives in the Cedar Forest; so the king and his companion
“took each other by the hand,” first to go have great weapons
fashioned (Tablet II) and then to seek the blessing and prayer of Queen Ninsun,
Gilgamesh’s mother (Tablet III). After Gilgamesh has a series of bad
dreams, Enkidu comforts him, saying, “’Take my hand, friend, and
we shall go [on] together, [let] your thoughts dwell on combat!’”
(Tablet IV).

After they slay
the forest’s guardian, with the help of great winds (Tablet V), Gilgamesh
washes his hair, letting it fall down over his back, and puts on fresh clothes
and his crown. When the goddess Ishtar, looking down, saw “the beauty
of Gilgamesh,” she was filled with longing and asked him to become her
bridegroom. When he refuses, enraged, she persuades the gods to release the
Bull of Heaven to kill Gilgamesh. However, Enkidu grabs hold of the animal’s
tail, while Gilgamesh thrusts in his knife and slays the great beast (Tablet
VI). But the gods are now angry that their great bull has been killed, and
so they decide that one of the heroes must die, namely Enkidu. And so Enkidu
grows weak and dies (Tablet VII). Gilgamesh, beside himself with grief, covers
the face of his friend “like a bride,” tears out his curly hair
in clumps, rips off his fine clothes, and mourns inconsolably over the loss
of his friend (Tablet VIII). Thereafter, he sets out to find a way to immortal
life, so he can be reunited with Enkidu (Tablets IX-XI). Although numerous
scholars have denied that there is a homoerotic content here, the intensity
and exclusivity of their friendship, along with the emphasis on their beauty,
makes this view difficult to maintain. Later we shall look more fully at the
Gilgamesh Epic and its parallels to the Jonathan and David story.

Cult prostitution,
involving heterosexual and homosexual acts, was found throughout ancient Near
East history, as discussed earlier in the article "The Levitical Ban:
More Clues in the Case," in the Main Series, of this "Homosexuality
and the Bible" section. William Naphy notes how male and female prostitutes
had intercourse with male worshippers in sanctuaries and temples in ancient
Mesopotamia, Phoenicia, Cyprus, Corinth, Carthage, Sicily, Libya, and West
Africa.24 Norman Sussman explains that “male and
female prostitutes, serving temporarily or permanently and performing heterosexual,
homosexual, oral-genital, bestial, and other forms of sexual activities, dispensed
their [sexual] favors on behalf of the temple. The prostitute and the client
acted as surrogates for the deities,” representing both fertility and
sexuality in an erotic sense.25

Another kind
of homosexuality that existed in ancient times was the love for a beautiful
boy. Michael Rice writes, “It is a fair assumption that all of the great
cultures of antiquity regarded a good-looking boy as a fitting target for
a man’s attention or admiration … and, given the way in which
women tended to be protected in Mediterranean cultures, a good deal more accessible.
There is plenty of evidence for the ritualization of the love of boys in societies
which have developed strongly bonded groups of warriors and younger cadets.”
Here the lover guided the beloved in “training in arms and for the hunt.”26
In fact, “It is widely believed that one of the principal uses of the
Upper Paleolithic caves [with its scenes of running bulls, boy attendants,
and acrobatic leaping] may have been the initiation of children [most likely
boys] into the technique, lore, and mystery of the hunters’ way of life.”
Added to the awe and fear could also have been the pain of circumcision and
the initiates’ sexual use by the men present. “The homosexual
emphasis in the relationship between Gilgamesh and Enkidu is an inheritance
of an older life-style, of the dominant partner inducting his younger partner
and companion” into the ways of the world; and in this story, as well,
they have to face the mighty bull of heaven.27

Mespotamian
scholar Jean Bottero notes that cultures in this region considered sex “far
too natural” to write about, or to boast of sexual abilities and prowess.
Also, “We find not the slightest declaration of love, no effusion or
sentiment or even tenderness. Such impulses of the heart … are suggested
rather than openly expressed.” It was expected that everyone marry and
bear children, but still men who had the economic means could take one or
more ‘second wives’ or concubines. Also, they were free to visit
the professional prostitutes of both sexes. In fact, Inanna/Ishtar was called
a ‘hierodule’ (a divine sacred ‘prostitute’); and
many male prostitutes, homosexual and transvestite, served her. Making love
was a natural activity that should not be demeaned, they believed; and it
could be practiced as one pleased as long as no third party was harmed or
a prohibition was broken (such as the banning of sexual activity on certain
days, and some women were reserved for the gods).28 In
fact, William Naphy notes that a striking feature of the ancient Near East
was “how few cultures seem to have any significant ‘moral’
concern about same-sex activities. … Most cultures seemed to accept
that males might have sexual relations with other males” – although
for a male to assume the passive position in intercourse (unless he was an
adolescent) was thought somehow to make him less than a male thereafter.29
Laws only banned certain negative forms of homosexuality, namely, slander,
rape and incest. Kings had male lovers along with their wives, warriors developed
romantic attachments, and ordinary men customarily had anal intercourse with
male and female cultic personnel. Also, the tradition of youthful rite of
passage comes down from prehistoric times. Tom Horner described three types
of individuals who engaged in homosexual activity in ancient Biblical times:
(1) military heroes, manly types, who shared a noble love; (2) cult prostitutes,
often effeminate and eunuchs, who offered themselves to worshippers at pagan
shrines; and (3) average citizens, who engaged in casual same-sex relationships,
even though one or both of them might have been married.30

Tom Horner also
wrote (1978) that the Philistines had a culture which “accepted homosexuality”
and so probably influenced Israel in this respect.31
Now, a quarter of a century later, new findings can be reported that further
clarify this possibility. But first, who were the Philistines? Battle scenes
and inscriptions at Medinet Habu (near Thebes) in Egypt describe the victory
of Ramesses III over certain “Sea Peoples,” who ca. 1175 B.C.
attacked Egypt, including five groups, with the Philistines named first.32
Rebuffed, these Sea Peoples then settled (shortly after 1200 B.C.) along the
southern Mediterranean coast of Canaan, where they set up a federation with
five capital cities (Gaza, Ashkelon, Ashdod, Gath and Ekron) and took the
name of their dominate group, the Philistines. (Genesis 21 and 26 record an
earlier wave of “Philistines” who came to Canaan, but this term
probably refers only to other “sea peoples.”33)
Comparisons of the Philistines’ dress, arms and ships at Medinet Habu
point to the Philistines coming from the region of the Aegean Sea, including
the western coast of Anatolia (modern Turkey), the island of Crete, and the
Greek mainland (specifically the locale of Athens and Mycenae, 50 miles to
the west).34 The distinctive Philistine feathered headdress,
pictured at Medinet Habu, has been found on objects dug up at sites south
of Troy (Caria, Lycia and the Ionian islands), as well as on Crete and Cyprus.35

In the Bible,
the book of Judges relates how the tribe of Judah took three Philistine cities
(Gaza, Ashkelon, and Ekron) but was unable to subdue the whole Philistine
territory, because of their iron chariots (Judg 1:18-19). Later, we read that
because Israel turned to worship the gods of the nations around them, the
Lord gave them over “into the hand of the Philistines” and the
Ammonites, who oppressed them (Judg 10:6-8). Neal Bierling notes36
that this is probably why Samson could move freely back and forth among the
Philistines (Judg 14:1-5a), visiting a prostitute and then taking up with
Delilah (16:1-4). At the beginning of the first millennium B.C., the Philistines
had contained Saul and established themselves as the leading political and
commercial power in Canaan, where they flourished on an agricultural economy
and from overland trade and ships that stopped along their coast.37

Interestingly,
the Bible specifically links the Philistines with Crete. Amos 9:7 speaks of
the “Philistines from Caphtor,” and Jer 47:4 of the “Philistines,
the remnant of the coastline of Caphtor” (NRSV). The Hebrew kaftor
has been linked with the Egyptian Keftiu (Kftyw),
which in one text is specifically linked to four specific sites on Crete.38
Clearly, the Israelites believed that the Philistines (or a notable part of
them) lived on Crete before they migrated to the southern coast of Canaan.

Crete is a
large, 156 mile long island that marks the southern boundary of the Aegean
Sea, lying nearly halfway from Athens to Africa and 300 miles west of Cyprus.
It is mountainous, has fine harbors on the northern side, and in ancient times
was forested and fertile. The Bronze Age on mainland Greece (centered in Mycenae),
Crete, and the Cycladic Islands (scattered between Greece and Anatolia) occurred
between 3000-1100 B.C., coming to an end with destruction of sites, large
population migrations, and the replacement of bronze by iron. During the same
period, Crete developed its own powerful civilization, called “Minoan”
(3150-1200 B.C.) after the legendary king Minos. The Minoan culture reached
its height between 2000-1500 B.C., during which time colossal, labyrinthine
palaces were built at Knossos and other sites. However, after natural disasters
(earthquake, volcanic eruption) and the subsequent invasion and destruction
of Cretan centers (the palace of Knossos was finally destroyed ca. 1400 B.C.),
the center of power moved back to the Mycenaean empire (ca. 1450 B.C.), which
continued to the end of the Bronze Age, followed by the turbulent “Dark
Ages” (1100-900 B.C.)39

Now we turn
to a remarkable little cup which has become known as the Chieftain Cup. Found
in Crete in 1903, its significance has only recently been deciphered by by
Robert Koehl, a specialist in Bronze Age archaeology at Hunter College (CUNY),
New York. Measuring only 4.5” high, this round but tapered drinking
vessel is displayed in the Herakleion Museum, Herakleion, Crete.40
On the front, it displays two slender youths, both wearing necklaces and other
jewelry, short kilts, and tall boots, who stand looking at each other.41
Dated ca. 1650-1500 B.C.,42 this cup was found at a
large villa (estate) at Ayia Triada,43 located on a
river near the south-central coast of Crete.44 By studying
ancient Cretan hairstyles, Koehl noted that the youth on the left, with his
hair tied in a topknot but short in the back, is the younger one (perhaps
just having reached puberty). The youth on the right, with long hair flowing
down the back and with front curls (along with his taller stature and better
attire) is an older, more mature youth.45 Various interpretations
have been offered for this pair, e.g. that they represent a god and a priest,
a king and a commander, or children impersonating dignitaries.46

Light is shed
on this cup by a description of a sexual rite in ancient Crete that was recorded
by Ephoris (a 4th century B.C. historian) and preserved by Strabo (a 1st century
B.C. historian). The rite of passage Ephoris describes began when Minoan boys
were segregated into agelae (“herds”),
to prepare them for manhood and to train them as soldiers.47
However, when an older young man, called a philetor
(“lover”), saw a youth who attracted him by his beauty, courage,
and manners, he would “capture” his chosen one, called a parastatheis,
with the consent of his parents and help of his friends. Taking him to the
local andreion (male dining club) where he was a
member, the suitor would give the youth presents and then take him into the
country (accompanied by some of the boy’s friends), where they spent
two months hunting and feasting. Thereafter, returning to the dining club,
the beloved would tell whether he was happy with how his lover had treated
him; and the lover, if accepted, would present the youth with military
garb, an ox, and a drinking cup, along with other costly gifts. After
that, the youth was called kleinos (“famous”),
wore distinctive clothing, and was given special seats at dances and races
and other honors. All the new “famous” youths were then married
in a mass wedding. This same-sex tradition displays all of the familiar elements
of a rite of passage: initiation into a select group, seclusion for a time
during which an older male teaches a younger male special skills, and then
return to society where the initiate receives a new status and special garments.48
Excavation of the villa complex where the Chieftain Cup was found showed that
it included a dining area with benches and a hearth in the middle (for cooking
and sacrifice), along with adjacent rooms for cooking, storing food and cookingware,
and sleeping (a bedroom with a raised platform). Male dining clubs like this
have been documented in every town in later Cretan history.49

This initiation
tradition may relate also to the story of Zeus, who falls in love with the
young boy Ganymede and carries him off to Mount Olympus to be his cupbearer.
In one version of this myth recorded by Athenaeus (xiii 601 f.), a 2nd-century
A.D. Greek philosopher in Egypt, Ganymede was carried off not by Zeus but
by King Minos, the legendary king of Crete (believed to be a son of Zeus by
Europa). Koehl proposes that this myth originated in Crete during the Minoan
era to support of their paiderastic rite of passage, then the myth moved to
Greece where Zeus was made the main character. The Chieftain Cup may now be
interpreted further. The long-haired lover presents his beloved with a sword
and javelin. (The exact significance of the “sprinkler
cover,” which the beloved holds in his left hand, is not known.) The
reverse side of the cup shows three of the beloved’s friends bringing
him flattened ox skins, from which would be made a shield.
The cup the boy received is none other than the so-called
Chieftain Cup, which may have originally been covered with gold foil. The
Minos/Zeus myth clarifies why the chosen youth was called a parastatheis
(“one who stands beside”); this is because after
the pair returned from the countryside, the beloved would stand beside his
lover at banquets in the dining club using this cup to serve him wine (a tradition
that will also be seen at the Greek symposium).50 Very
likely, Dorian Greeks who settled on Crete (according to Plato, Ephorus and
Aristotle) absorbed this tradition and then returned it to Sparta and Greece.51

Archaeologists
have also excavated a rustic shrine dedicated to Hermes and Aphrodite, at
Kato Syme, located ca. 40 miles east of Ayia Triada and up on Mt. Dikte, 3,900’
above sea level, where numerous objects, particularly in bronze, were offered
with animal sacrifices to the deities.52 Here and only
here on Crete, chalices shaped like the Chieftain Cup but in stone and clay,
have been found from the same period.53 Angeliki Lembessi
found bronze figures of youths from the Minoan period (before 1100 B.C.),
showing that this was a long-standing sanctuary site.54
But later bronze cut-out figures (8th-7th centuries B.C.) found here are also
significant. One (Louvre Museum, Paris) shows an older youth with a beard
pulling toward him a younger male with long, flowing hair and curls in front
– the pair a bit older than the two depicted on Chieftain Cup. The older
youth carries a horn and partly-finished bow (made from horn) and the younger
male carries a slain goat on his shoulders – while their legs and feet
touch and the genitals of the younger male are exposed.55
Lembessi’s team also found a bronze piece, dated ca. 750 B.C. (Heraklion
Museum), which shows two helmeted but otherwise nude males, both with erections,
who stand beside each other holding hands.56 Still another
bronze cutout (7th century B.C.) shows a lad, nude except for a long, decorative
cape and sandals, holding a bow and quiver.57 These
pieces document that this Cretan initiatory tradition continued over many
centuries and that later offerings left by pairs of lovers at this shrine
became more elaborate and erotically explicit.58

But in Israel
itself could such a romantic attachment between two heroes really have happened
and been recorded? The attempted gang-rape of the Levite priest in Gibeah
(Judg 19) is instructive in a number of ways. After the priest accepted the
invitation of a kindly old man to spend the night with his party in his home,
a “gang of local hell-raisers” surround the house, yelling, “Bring
out the man who came to your house. We want to have sex with him.” (Judg
19:22, Peterson) The priest saves his life only by handing over his concubine,
whom the mob proceeds to brutally rape and murder (v. 25-26). Some translators
take a swipe at gay people by translating the Hebrew here as “a gang
of sex perverts” (LB 1971) or “some sexual perverts” (GNB
1976) – only homosexuality is never mentioned in the priest’s
report to the whole of Israel, whom he assembles to punish Gibeah and Benjamin,
the tribe where it is located. A better translation of the Hebrew here is
“worthless fellows” (NASB 1960; cf. CEV 1995) or “scoundrels”
(JB 1966, NEB 1970). What is even more significant is the fact that if such
a grossly negative form of homosexual activity is mentioned here, surely many
other kinds of non-violent homoerotic desire and bonding must have been occurring
in ancient Israel at the same time, but with little attention drawn to it.

During the period
of Judges, only a few generations before the time of Jonathan and David, “all
the people did what was right in their own eyes” (Judg 17:6, 21:25,
NRSV), which included intermarrying with the Philistines and other foreign
peoples (ch. 16), the worship of pagan idols (even by Levite priests, ch.
17-18), and the officially-sanctioned abduction of girls worshipping at the
Lord’s tabernacle at Shiloh, Israel’s religious center (ch. 21).
One does not get the impression that this was an especially up-tight society.

Related to rites
of passage, Israelite males were circumcised on the eighth day (Gen 17:12),
not at puberty or in preparation for marriage as among the Egyptians and other
peoples who lived along the western shores of the Mediterranean.59
Yet, puberty was an important milestone, when a child became an ‘elem
(boy) or ‘alma (girl) who was old enough to
marry and start a family.60 Israelite boys became full
adults at the age of twenty (Lev 27:1-8), when also they were eligible for
military service (Num 1:3). Although the Israelites had no homoerotic initiation
rites like the Cretans (and perhaps the Phoenicians), in which youths were
trained to hunt and fight, one would expect that Israelite youths sometimes
learned military skills from older experienced warriors in some location away
from the home.

Also, as Charles
Fensham notes, “A highly developed cult of Baal and Asherah [Canaanite
deities] existed that was based on the change of seasons and appealed to primitive
human instincts. … The charm of this form of adultery [sexual activity
with religious prostitutes] made Baal worship tempting to the ordinary man,
especially to the ordinary Israelite who stood under the severe laws of Moses.”61
Early in 1 Samuel, we read that the sons of Eli, the priest at Shiloh, stole
from the Lord’s offerings (2:12-17) and “slept with women [fertility
cult prostitutes? – see footnote in the REB Oxford Study Bible, 1989]
who served at the entrance to the [Lord’s] tent of meeting” (v.
22). No more than several generations after the reign of David, under Rehoboam,
son of Solomon and the first king of Judah (in the Divided Kingdom period),
the Israelites “built for themselves high places, pillars, and sacred
poles on every high hill and under every green tree; there were also male
prostitutes in the land.” (1 Kings 14:23-24, NRSV; and cf. 15:12, 22:46;
2 Kings 23:4-7). Of course, there were devout Israelites through this whole
period who loved and served God as best they knew how (including Gideon, Ruth,
Naomi, Hannah, Samuel, Jonathan, David, and others); but Israel was still
a syncretic society, which absorbed influences from the cultures all around
them.

So, what light
might all of this shine on the Jonathan and David story? First, homosexuality
in many forms pervaded the ancient Near East, and with more openness beyond
Egypt. As long as persons got married and had families, homoerotic activity
was generally accepted as part and parcel of life. Still, there was a certain
stigma attached to a man who took the passive, womanly role in a sexual relationship.
Second, Israelite men must have been aware of the Philistines’ acceptance
of homosexuality. During 1 Samuel, the Israelites and Philistines fought against
as well as continually interacted with each other. Israelite men must have
seen (or heard of) expressions of homoerotic affection between certain Philistine
men, in the street, shop, marketplace, and field. Third, generally judgment
was only passed on certain negative forms of homosexuality, such as rape,
incest and slander. Also, in the OT we see that it is (attempted) gang rape
and cultic prostitution that are condemned. Meanwhile, nonviolent homoerotic
love probably went on in secret and unmentioned, except in a few rare cases,
like Jonathan and David, and Ruth and Naomi. Fourth, romantic attachments
between two heroes were accepted throughout the ancient world, as is shown
in the Epic of Gilgamesh and its long and wide popularity, even reaching
Palestine. These may be dismissed as “comrades helping each other,”
but for those who have strong homosexual desires, these attachments can carry
a much deeper meaning. Fifth, a romantic attachment occurring at a royal court
would probably have been ignored by the general public, who had their own
more mundane, difficult lives to worry about. There were some who objected
(like Saul who wanted a lineage for the throne) and others who admired it
(like the gay-friendly scribe who included the Jonathan and David story in
1 Samuel).